Conservatism is a party which never conserves anything.

Its history has been that it demures to each aggression of the Progressive Party

and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling,

but always acquiesces at the last in the innovation.

What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today one of the accepted principles of conservatism. It is now conservative only in effecting to resist the next innovation,

which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity

and will be succeeded by some third revolution,

to be denounced and then adopted in its and will be succeeded by some third revolution,

to be denounced and then adopted in its turn.

American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows radicalism

as it moves forward towards perdition.

It remains behind it but never retards it,

and always advances near its leader.

This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor.

Wherewith shall it be salted? Its impotency is not hard indeed to explain. It is worthless because it is

the conservatism of expediency only and not of sturdy principle. It intends to risk nothing serious for the

sake of the truth and has no idea of being guilty of the folly of martyrdom.

It always went about to enter a protest.

Very blandly informs the wild beast whose path its essays to stop

that its bark is worse than its bite,

and that it only means to save its manner by enacting its decent role of resistance.

The only practical purpose which it now subserves in American politics

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